Viciedo, Sierra exit with injuries; Alexei hit by pitch

By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Dayan Viciedo exited in the fifth inning of the White Sox 11-5 victory over the Blue Jays on Friday night because of dizziness. He was replaced by Moises Sierra after drawing a walk, only to have Sierra leave after the eighth inning with a back issue. Leury Garcia took over in right field in the ninth.

"I don't know what it was with right field, but [Viciedo] felt dizzy and just felt at that point just to get him out. And Moises came in later and said there's something with his back," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "So just put Leury in. Luckily we have Leury to kind of play all over the place."

Alexei Ramirez was hit in the left hand by a pitch from Toronto starter Marcus Stroman in the first inning. But after being in considerable pain, Ramirez stayed in the game and finished with two hits and three RBIs.

"He's very surprisingly durable and the kid just loves playing," said White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn of Ramirez, who has played in 121 of 122 games this season and has logged 1,056 2/3 innings.

Cooper hopes for changes in collision rule

CHICAGO -- Pitching coach Don Cooper was at home watching the White Sox and Giants on television Wednesday afternoon, dealing with the effects of vertigo, when he witnessed the overturn of a seventh-inning play at the plate go against the White Sox and spark a seven-run frame for San Francisco.

The overturn was based on Rule 7.13, protecting the catchers from a home-plate collision, and catcher Tyler Flowers was called for blocking the plate without the ball even though Gregor Blanco was out by a sizeable margin.

Cooper immediately screamed at the television in disbelief and continued his anger on Friday with a diatribe on the matter.

"That rule has got to be changed. It's ridiculous," Cooper said. "The whole thing about getting replay is to get the play right. They had the thing right. He's out by 10 feet. That's going to be tweaked I'm sure.

"They took a game from us as a team and they [messed with] our pitcher. I'm not in favor of either one of those things. They need to figure that out."

Manager Robin Ventura, who followed an ejection with a classic dirt-kicking reaction on home plate, was calm and in good spirits during his pregame media session Friday. He joked about hearing from numerous people about his Lou Piniella-like reaction, adding that his kids loved his response.

But don't confuse his calm demeanor with an acceptance of that call.

"I know what the spirit of the rule is supposed to be with protecting catchers and taking care of them," Ventura said. "It's gone a little bit beyond that."

The White Sox manager believes this rule will be tweaked, much like the transfer rule, if not removed completely.

"You still have to see the play and allow the catcher some freedom to move around," Ventura said. "I don't necessarily think they can look at two things at once either. But I think if a guy is going to be out, he's going to be out. You have a pretty good idea of that when you see the play.

"Otherwise, I think if you take it too far, you're probably at a point where you might as well make it a force play at home like you do at first. It would clean up everything."

Contracts no issue for Danks, Buehrle

CHICAGO -- Mark Buehrle departed the White Sox after the 2011 season, agreeing to a four-year, $58 million free-agent deal with the Marlins. That deal went down at the 2011 Winter Meetings.

John Danks agreed on a five-year, $65 million deal with the White Sox just before Christmas of that same year. That move caused many fans and pundits to view the White Sox as picking Danks, who is six years younger than Buehrle, over one of the steadiest, most accomplished pitchers in franchise history.

Neither Buehrle nor Danks entirely look at this scenario in that same manner.

"Obviously, it came to the point they had money to spend and wanted to spend it on a younger guy," Buehrle said. "I'm not bitter. I'd have loved to spend my whole career here and still be here to this day, but it's part of the game and it happened."

"I wasn't in on anything he was dealing with at the time. You know, it is what it is," Danks said. "It wasn't my decision to make. It was offered to me. I was ecstatic, obviously. Still happy to be here."

The two close friends face off against each other Saturday night, with Buehrle making his first start as a visiting pitcher at U.S. Cellular Field. They both joked that it would have been better if this was a National League game and they could face each other.

Since the new deals were signed, Buehrle has a 36-31 record over 88 starts and 555 1/3 innings for the Marlins and Blue Jays. Danks is 16-26 over 55 starts and 339 innings pitched during a stretch that included 2012 arthroscopic shoulder surgery.

Avisail could join White Sox this weekend

CHICAGO -- White Sox manager Robin Ventura said before Friday's start of af six-game homestand that Avisail Garcia could return to the club as soon as this weekend.

Garcia has been out of action since April 9, when he tore the labrum and sustained an avulsion fracture of his left shoulder while diving for a fly ball in Colorado. The right fielder had 50 at-bats during his injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte, and Ventura said in San Francisco that Garcia would be evaluated around that 50 at-bat mark.

"He's playing enough that I think he's getting closer to that," said Ventura of Garcia, who had Friday off for Charlotte. "In Spring Training, you'd probably have around 55-to-60 at-bats that you would feel comfortable with him, so he is getting closer. I know he's been playing a lot in the outfield, so that's good news.

"You've got to make sure he feels comfortable enough that he has the right amount of bats. When he comes up here, you don't want him feeling like he's still a step behind of feeling totally ready to go."

The 6-foot-4, 240-pounder is hitting .340 for the Knights and would give a present look at the power-packed future middle of the order featuring the 23-year-old and Jose Abreu.

"Personally, I talk to him on a daily basis," said Abreu through interpreter and White Sox manager of cultural development Lino Diaz. "It would be a great thing if he would be able to come back, obviously because of the effort that he's put in to get back, but also because he's going to help us as a team.

"I just thank God that he's been able to do what he's been able to do. That wasn't easy. It took a lot of effort from him to work and to get where he's at right now."

Cooper hopeful of taking next road trip

CHICAGO -- As of Friday afternoon, White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper planned to travel with the team to his home state of New York for next weekend's three-game road trip to Yankee Stadium. Cooper has missed the last two road trips and 16 games because of his battle with vertigo.

Cooper feels decidedly better than he did on the last homestand, where he never was able to finish a game because of the illness caused by an inner-ear infection. But he's going day by day, let alone series by series.

"It wasn't fun. This was not fun dealing with it," Cooper said. "I don't like the feeling of dizziness, nausea and balance and equilibrium not being right. I don't like not being here. But I knew I couldn't and probably shouldn't have been here. Again, I'm feeling better.

"I think I have a good chance to complete the game tonight and we'll go from there. I'm just feeling blessed that I feel better and the major symptoms are not here now and I'm sure hoping they don't come back."

Third to first

Saladino underwent Tommy John surgery in a procedure performed by Dr. James Andrews. Saladino is expected to be ready for the start of the 2015 season.

May sustained a broken hamate bone on Aug. 8 against Lynchburg, and his expected recovery time is six-to-eight weeks. Saladino was hitting .310 with 43 RBIs, while May had amassed 37 stolen bases.

• The sixth annual Chicago White Sox Charities Week, the club's annual fundraising and community outreach campaign, raised a total gross revenue of $209,000 from Aug. 1-6. This fundraiser has raised $886,000 in six years.

Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Merk's Works, and follow him on Twitter @scottmerkin. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.